XM Satellite Radio Wins Top Honors at the 2006 Consumer Electronics Show (1 Viewer)

[Ronald Epstein]

XM Satellite Radio Wins Top Honors at the 2006 Consumer Electronics Show

Monday January 9, 3:08 pm ET

WASHINGTON, Jan. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- XM Satellite Radio, the nation's leading satellite radio company with more than six million subscribers, won top honors for its ground-breaking satellite radios at the 2006 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nev.

XM unveiled the world's first portable audio players that receive live satellite radio and play MP3 music, combining the two most popular forms of audio entertainment of the past 20 years. Samsung and Pioneer plan to introduce the next-generation XM2go radios -- the Samsung Helix and Pioneer Inno -- at retail in the first quarter of 2006.

The Pioneer Inno XM2go won the Best of CES 2006 People's Voice Award hosted by CNET. Dr. Stell Patsiokas, XM executive vice president of technology and engineering, accepted the prestigious award from CNET editors Brian Cooley, Tom Merritt, and Molly Wood during a ceremony at CES. "More than 5,000 of you voted in our online poll, and your clear choice was the Pioneer Inno," CNET said.

The Pioneer Inno also won Last Gadget Standing, the annual CES competition hosted by PC Magazine. The online audience chose the Pioneer Inno among ten cutting-edge products picked by editors and online visitors.

In addition to these honors, XM's first-generation XM2go radio, the Delphi MyFi, received Editor's Choice Awards from the consumer electronics magazines Sound & Vision and E-Gear at separate events during CES. Plus, five XM products were recognized as honorees for the Innovations 2006 Awards, which recognize outstanding product engineering and design, sponsored by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), the host of CES.

These award-winning products complement XM's industry-leading programming, which offers the most commercial-free music, premier sports, news, talk and entertainment channels on satellite radio. Exclusive shows on XM include one- of-a-kind music programs hosted by music legend Bob Dylan, hip-hop superstars Snoop Dogg and Ludacris, rock hero Tom Petty, and jazz giant Wynton Marsalis. XM is also the exclusive satellite radio home for public radio icon Bob Edwards, Opie & Anthony, Air America, Major League Baseball, World Cup Soccer, NASCAR, "Good Morning America Radio," and "The Ellen DeGeneres Show."

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060109/dcm035.html?.v=33

 

[Ronn.W]

Maybe this will kick Sirius in the ass a little to realize that maybe technology is important, not overpaid air 'talent.'
But then they won't be able to afford any new research for 5 years...

 

[Ronald Epstein]

The reason why XM has always reamained doubled
in the amount of subscribers over Sirius has
mainly been due to its superior electronics.

I think that will continue to be the case as Sirius
always seems follow any XM technology breakthroughs
months to a year after.

 

[RAF]

Well, I added a new Sirius receiver and a 1 year subscription to my arsenal (mainly for Howard) and all I can say after 4 days of listening is that when my XM subscription (1 year commitment) runs out I'm dropping it. The Starmate Replay unit I purchased contains an internal FM transmitter and once I found an ideal spot in my house to get a good signal (6 bars out of 10 which is more than adequate) I had instant access on every FM radio in the house. If I want, I can hook up this receiver directly to my audio system (as I've done with my XM radio) but my primary interest is in talk radio (specifically the two HOWARD stations) and therefore the FM transmission is perfect for my needs.

I've had XM since its introduction but recently haven't listened to it that much, with all my other interests. I can honestly say that I've listened to SIRIUS more in the last 4 days (including the HOWARD "rehearsal" programs and other features) than I have listened to XM in the past year.

SIRIUS has tripled its subscriber base in the past year (1.1 to 3.3 million) so I wouldn't count them out just yet. I don't believe that XM will have double the subscribers that SIRIUS has by this time next year.

 

[TheLongshot]

I can say the same thing about Sirius when I got XM. Initially, I was wowed by what it got, but the repetition and the lack of what I normally listen to caused me to listen to my CDs more and more. I still listen to XM a lot, even with having a 20gig MP3 player in the car.

Yes I know, different strokes for different folks, but I still think that XM is superior in most ways. I'm interested to see how many people are going to continue to pay for Howard after a year.

Jason

 

[Ronald Epstein]

I'm happy that the Stern fans love Sirius and I
won't deny that service is great for TALK programming.

However....

As far as music programming is concerned, Sirius
with their shallow playlists and repetition doesn't
come close to XM.

It all 'pends on where your priorities lay.

 

[Brent T]

Just as a side note you can call to cancel XM and tell them that you are switching to Sirius. They will then offer you 6 months for free. Its a great way to keep XM and save yourself a few extra coins for something in your home-theater

 

[Kevin N]

I think XM's morning talk programming is just as good if not better than Sirius with Opie & Anthony and Bob Edwards. I'm glad I live in the Dallas area, though, because XM's talk in the afternoon sucks...a lot.

 

[RAF]

Thanks for the tip. Yes, I'll be dropping XM as soon as my yearly subscription is up (I realize that they automatically renew it but before this happens the credit card I'm using expires so they'll have to contact me for the updated information. That's when I drop the bomb on them). If they want to throw 6 months free my way I won't turn them down since I already have the equipment in place.

After three days listening to Howard and all the peripherals I'm already seeing how much I prefer him to O&A. To each his own, I guess, but in my opinion those two guys aren't as funny as Howard is. Their reputation comes from the fact that they were on uncensored radio first but now that it's a level playing field there is absolutely no comparison.

Your mileage may vary.

And as a side note to anyone else thinking of switching - I was pleased to find out that the Wireless Repeater that Delphi sold me last month which allows me to attach the XM antenna to a WiFi module and then receive the signal on the XM player anywhere in my house via a special WiFi antenna works like a charm with my Sirius player. All I do is attach the Sirius antenna to the WiFi Module and the WiFi antenna to the Sirius Replay Unit. There's something sweet about listening to Howard with an antenna that has "Delphi" emblazoned across it.

 

[Kevin N]

I really don't think Howard is all that funny anymore. It's more of a chuckle here and a chuckle there. His show does have a more produced and higher quality feel to it, though.

I'm only a very recent O&A listener, but I think they're pretty good from what I've heard. Their whole bit with sound clips from back in the 90's about how their management didn't see satellite radio as a threat and were selling spots to XM was hilarious. Talking about how they couldn't have gotten it any more wrong, like if some coach had said, "You'll never be a good quarterback, Terry Bradshaw!"

I also must admit the whole thing on Stern talking huge amounts of crap about not wanting to be on the same station as someone called "Bubba the Lovesponge" and his recent praise of him was pretty good too.

I considered also getting Sirius for Howard and the NBA, but I think I'm just gonna stick with XM only. They have a morning show I like, MLB, NHL, and I already knew I preferred XM's philosophy on music more to Sirius'.

 

[RAF]

Well, with over 9000 songs on each of my two iPods and a lot more music options at my disposal I really don't need the music that XM radio offers. While those who listen to satellite for music may have some valid points regarding the XM playlists over the Sirius counterparts, this doesn't factor into my decision at all. I'm more interested in talk radio and with Howard now on Sirius, to me the scales have tipped way in favor of Sirius.

I was told about O&A quite a while ago and, while they were amusing, I now realize this was more from the fact that they were on "no holds barred" radio than from the fact that they were clever. As I stated elsewhere, now that Howard has the same freedom, watch out! And I'm not interested in who had the Pat O'Brien tapes first, no matter what any claims are. To me it's not the material but what you do with it. Listening to O&A handle the same material as Stern proves to me that Stern is far funnier based on talent than on shock value, even though he's known as a "shock jock."

It's almost a man among boys situation to me.

But you may think otherwise, so that's why there are two services. For the long haul I'm backing Stern.

 

[WillG]

Ironically, there are a good portion of hardcore fans who think that their show was better back when they were on terrestrial radio. Of course, being on a station under FCC restrictions in many ways forces you to be more clever. Personally, I wish they would have stuck with doing afternoons as I think their show was more suited to that timeslot

 

[mattCR]

I tried both, and gave up on XM recently. Too many things I felt I missed. But O&A really didn't "get me" they seem to have this weird fascination with Howard; just do your own show and move on. Then, this whole talk about "the war starts Monday!" And where the heck have they been? I mean, Monday new, but Tue/Wed/Thur.. uh, where the hell are they? And the day they did programming (Monday) they spent the better part of it just playing clips of Stern; if I wanted a recap show, I'd just listen to SIRIUS.

They do 12 hours of programming a week; and in that time we're getting less and less. Jimmy just seemed to dissappear from the show for weeks on end, and the same bits get drilled over and over and over again.

I canceled my XM subscription this week; I had been keeping both. I picked up an S50 for Christmas, and found it to be one of the coolest gizmos I've played with in a while. There are things I like about XM, but not enough for me to keep paying for it.

 

[Kevin N]

Opie's been sick and unable to do the show; that's why there's been worst of's since Tuesday. I've listened to Stern's show the whole week, and it's an ok show, but just doesn't seem worth cancelling XM and buying a $430 non-live portable radio. I guess if you already didn't like XM as a whole, then it's worth it.

 

[Michael St. Clair]

Have they predicted how the ratings will compare in the 'war'?

Starting this summer, Arbitron will track individual and show ratings for satellite. Presumably Opie and Anthony think they'll have the higher ratings, right?